The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane by Joseph Delaney

455 pages

"The Spook and his apprentice, Thomas Ward, deal with the dark. Together they rid the county of witches, ghosts, and boggarts. But now there's some unfinished business to attend to in Priestown. Deep in the catacombs of the cathedral lurks a creature the Spook has never been able to defeat; a force so evil that the whole county is in danger of being corrupted by its powers. The Bane!

As Thomas and the Spook prepare for the battle of their lives, it becomes clear that the Bane isn't their only enemy. The Quisitor has arrived, searching for those who meddle with the dark so he can imprison them--or worse.

Can Thomas defeat the Bane on his own? Is his friend Alice guilty of witchcraft? And will the Spook be able to escape the Quisitor's clutches?" -Dust Jacket

*SMALL SPOILER ALERT*
This book was much better than the first and convinced me to keep going with the series. Unlike the first, this one was difficult to put down sometimes. Priestown is a scary place. The Bane is trapped in the catacombs beneath the city. Many priests there have fallen victim to the Bane's mental influence and do his bidding, including the Spook's brother. To make matters worse, the Quisitor unexpectedly shows up in town with witches and warlocks to burn at the stake. He is a true villain. The stakes are raised (no pun intended) when some of the people Thomas cares about are captured and imprisoned. The Bane is much scarier than Mother Malkin and the boggarts in the first book.

In this book you learn some surprising things about Thomas's mom and more about the Spook's past. Alice's character is probably the most interesting and ambiguous so far. Will she become a good witch or a bad witch...or is her fate already sealed? Her choices are hard to categorize as good or evil as the consequences of them result in both. I'm interested to see what happens with her and Thomas in the coming books.

These books read really fast as they're small and written with 1.5 spacing. I like the creepy pictures at the beginning of each chapter. I'd say that so far these books are definitely for 10+. I'd let my oldest daughter read them but not my 9-year-old.